On the second line
top-right, the year in Arabic is 1415 in the HIJRI or Islamic
calendar, corresponding to 1994.

At the
bottom, just above ICAO, the full name of the Organization (International
Civil Aviation Organization) is printed in Arabic. It is interesting to
note that ICAO’s acronym in Arabic is a transliteration (i.e. conversion in
Arabic letters) of the each letter of the English acronym.

Photographic proof, ungummed.

Upper-left
corner block with the acronym ICAO in the selvage.

Upper-right
corner block with the full name of the Organization International Civil
Aviation Organization (in Arabic) in the selvage.

Lower-left corner block.

Lower-right corner block with the name of the printer (in
Arabic) in the selvage: Post Printers Cairo.

Official First Day cover.

First
Day Cover with corner block of three stamps.

Background:
The issue date of the Egyptian stamp (16 September 1994 in the Gregorian
calendar) corresponds to Friday 10 Rabī’
al-Thānī 1415 A.H. in the Hijri or Islamic calendar (Anno
Hijri or AH). The Islamic (Hijri) year consists of twelve (purely lunar)
months; Rabī’ al-Thānīis
the fourth month of the Islamic calendar.

The Islamic
calendar or Muslim calendar or Hijri calendar is a lunar calendar based on 12
lunar months in a year of 354 or 355 days, used to date events in many Muslim
countries (concurrently with the Gregorian calendar), and used by Muslims
everywhere to determine the proper day on which to celebrate Islamic holydays
and festivals. Its first year was the moon year during which the Hijra, i.e.
the emigration of the Islamic prophet Muhammad from Mecca to Medina,
occurred. Each numbered year is designated either H for Hijra or AH
for the Latin anno Hegirae (in the year of the Hijra). A limited
number of years before Hijra (BH) are used to date events related to
Islam, such as the birth of Muhammad in 53 BH.

According
to calculations, the Hijra corresponded to Friday 16 July 622 (even though
the actual emigration took place in September). Because of the Hijra event,
the calendar was named the Hijri calendar.

Philatelic
notice. This notice should have more rightly used the word “Convention”
instead of Agreement.